1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for managing a computer system. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a procedure for dynamically reconfiguring resources of logical partitions.
2. Description of Related Art
Presently, many computer manufacturers design computer systems with partitioning capability. To partition a computer system is to divide the computer system's resources (i.e., memory devices, processors etc.) into groups; thus, allowing for a plurality of operating systems (OSs) to be concurrently executing on the computer system.
Partitioning a computer system may be done for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it may be done for consolidation purposes. Clearly consolidating a variety of computer systems into one by running multiple application programs that previously resided on the different computer systems on only one reduces (i) cost of ownership of the system, (ii) system management requirements and (iii) footprint size.
Secondly, partitioning may be done to provide production environment and test environment consistency. Once a new OS or application program has been tested and certified, the test partition may simply be designated as a production partition, with resources diverted to it as needed. This, in turn, may inspire more confidence that an application program that has been tested successfully will perform as expected.
Thirdly, partitioning a computer system may provide increased hardware utilization. For example, when an application program does not scale well across large numbers of processors, running multiple instances of the program on separate smaller partitions may provide better throughput.
Fourthly, partitioning a system may provide application program isolation. When application programs are running on different partitions, they are guaranteed not to interfere with each other. Thus, in the event of a failure in one partition, the other partitions will not be affected. Furthermore, none of the application programs may consume an excessive amount of hardware resources. Consequently, no application programs will be starved out of required hardware resources.
Lastly, partitioning provides increased flexibility of resource allocation. A workload that has resource requirements that vary over a period of time may be managed more easily if it is being run on a partition. That is, the partition may be easily altered to meet the varying demands of the workload.
Computer systems with partitioning capability generally use a partitioning management tool. The partitioning management tool is usually associated with the hardware of the system and interacts with a service processor embedded in the computer system. One particular partitioning management tool is a hardware management console (HMC). The HMC is used to configure and monitor partitions.
Presently, however, one resource is handled at a time when a partition is being reconfigured. This can be a rather time-consuming endeavor when a plurality of partitions each containing numerous resources have to be reconfigured.
Therefore, what is needed is a method, apparatus and system for handling multiple resources when a partition is being reconfigured.